A perspective on population growth in India

Population growth is heralded as a major problem of India; it will determine to a large extent the living conditions of people for decades to come. This paper analyzes the interrelated issues of population growth stabilization, the magnitude of necessary efforts to provide basic essentials to the growing population, and the impact upon the environment. Estimates of population projections are presented, based on the optimistic but probable assumption that India could reach reproductive level fertility in the period 2000-05. If sustained thereafter, the country's population would stabilize around the year 2100 at 1420 million people. In the mean time, the absolute increase of population in the next 2-3 decades will be greater than at present. The effect of population growth on cities and the living conditions of the city dwellers is reviewed and it is pointed out that it is in developing countries where population growth is the primary force producing large urban centers. Population growth presents problems with respect to employment opportunities. The predicted flood of manpower cannot be totally absorbed by the organized sector; it is argued that the agricultural sector is the only one which can help the country during this period of high population growth. To support this large and rising population, India will need to rapidly increase its average crop yields 2-3 times the present level for a modest improvement process. The expected population growth will also have consequences on environmental deterioration and water supply contamination. Finally, progress on human development lines has been taking place in India, but achievements to date are uneven. It is stressed that a national concerted effort is required to achieve such goals.     

Recent population characteristics and growth in the USSR

"Data from the preliminary results of the 1989 census and Naseleniye SSSR 1987 permit analyses of age-sex structures of the Soviet population and distributions by civil divisions of natural growth rates, total population growth, urban growth, rural growth, percent urbanization, and growths of cities. The paper complements the treatment of census results by macroregions appearing in the November 1989 issue of Soviet Geography...by summarizing trends emerging at a finer scale of analysis and providing recent background information on demographic components of population change."     

Recent trends in Sydney's population

"In the summer 1990 issue of this journal the author published a...paper on Sydney's [Australia] population geography. The profile drawn in that paper was Sydney as of the mid-1980s. The aim of the present article is to provide readers with an up-date on that profile, examining the demographic evolution of the city over the past decade...." Aspects considered include population growth, internal patterns of population change, ethnic composition, health and age distribution.     

Regional dimensions of population in India

"The present endeavour has an emphasis on analysing distributional patterns of some...population characteristics [in India] as a case perceived at the physiographic-regional level, that is to say, the variability of population characteristics over different natural environments as well as within a similar physical entity. Specifically it aims at analysing the pattern of population density, growth, urbanisation level and literacy varying from one physiographic region to [another] and the relationship of these four variables with each other at the same level of regional structure."     

Recent population trends in the Swiss Alps

Recent demographic trends in the Alpine areas of Switzerland are examined. Areas of population loss and gain are identified, and the importance of tourism for areas experiencing population growth is established. Efforts to support the demographic and economic viability of mountain areas are described.     

Redistribution of population in India: some reflections

This article examines some aspects of population redistribution on the basis of internal migration data provided by the 1971 census. Its scope in India is limited to the assessmentof the quantum and proportion of the redistribution at the national and state levels and to the change in internal migration during 1961-71 on the basis of birthplace statistics. A comparison of place of birth and place of last residence migrants is also referred to in the discussion. A brief analysis of types of migration streams in the intradistrict, interdistrict, and interstate levels are assessed to indicate the composition of migration. Certain characteristics of migrants in urban areas are also presented which may be useful for further investigations at the levels of cities and towns. The gamut of the above considerations may provide a view on the redistribution of population.     

Recent fold growth and drainage development: The Janauri and Chandigarh anticlines in the Siwalik foothills, northwest India

The active growth of a fault-and-thrust belt in frontal zones of Himalaya is a prominent topographical feature, extending 2500 km from Assam to Pakistan. In this paper, kinematical analysis of frontal anticlines and spatial mapping of active faults based on geomorphological features such as drainage pattern development, fault scarps and uplifted Quaternary alluvial fans are presented. We analyse the geomorphic and hydrographic expressions of the Chandigarh and the Janauri active anticlines in the NW India Siwaliks. To investigate the morphological scenario during the folding process, we used spatial imagery, geomorphometric parameters extracted from digital elevation models and fieldwork. Folding between the Beas and Sutlej Rivers gives clear geomorphological evidence of recent fold growth, presumably driven by movements of blind thrust faults. Structural style within the Janauri and Chandigarh anticlines is highly variable (fault-propagation folds, pop-up structures and transfer faults). The approach presented here involves analysis of topography and drainage incision of selected landforms to detect growth of active anticlines and transfer faults. Landforms that indicate active folding above a southwest-dipping frontal thrust and a northeast-dipping back-thrust are described. Along-strike differences in ridge morphology are measured to describe the interaction of river channel patterns with folds and thrust faults and to define history of anticline growth. The evolution of the apparently continuous Janauri ridge has occurred by the coalescence of independent segments growing towards each other. By contrast, systematic drainage basin asymmetry shows that the Chandigarh anticline ridge has propagated laterally from NW to SE.     

Recent trends in Siberian urban growth

Future trends in urbanization in the USSR east of the Urals are considered using official Soviet data from 1959 to 1985. "Absolute and relative growth and growth rates are calculated for economic regions, oblast-level administrative entities, and individual cities, as well as for city-size categories. The nature of Siberian growth suggests that in addition to serving as centers of resource exploitation, Siberian cities also function as growth poles for more integrated development. The analysis serves as the preliminary stage for proposed future research on the extent of Siberian urban development and the integration of Siberia into the Soviet economy."     

Changing population concentration in India: a macro-regional scenario

There are great spatial variations in the distribution of the fast growing populations of India. About 70% of the 1981 population is concentrated in only 40% of the geographical area. Such a pattern of population concentration, with its spatio-temporal dimension, can be understood better if examined at the macro-regional level considering the physico-climatic and socio-economic diversity of the country. This is done by way of analyzing district level data for India as a whole and also for its various macro-regions. The study reveals that the Great Plains and Coastal Plains and Islands have a homogenous distribution and a higher population increase. The Deccan Plateau shows the most homogenous dispersion of population. The population is declining in the Northern Mountains and the Great Plains but accentuating in the Coastal Plains and Islands and the Deccan Plateau. The north and south of India are showing opposite trends in population concentration.     

Recent urban growth in Papua New Guinea

Using population estimates from recent censuses and from the 1977-1978 Urban Population Survey, the author examines trends in urban growth in Papua New Guinea. Reasons for the differences between actual and predicted rates of urban growth are investigated     

Recent and prospective population growth in the U.S.S.R.: 1979-2025

"This report presents the results and assumptions of a set of projections of the population of the USSR, 1979-2025. Trends in population size and age-sex composition as well as fertility, mortality, and emigration are discussed.... The projections show that the population of the USSR will grow throughout the period to 2025. The working age population will grow very slowly for at least the next 10 years, and will not recapture the rapid growth experienced in the 1970s. The pension-age population will double in size between 1980 and 2025."     

Recent trends of population development in the French urban system

"The paper analyses the population development of French urban agglomerations of more than 50,000 inhabitants over the last three decades (1962-90). Trends of net migration, natural increase and total population change are examined with respect to different functional and structural city types. The results show changes of long established growth patterns: an overall decrease of urban growth rates in the seventies and the resurgence of the growth of the largest metropolitan areas in the eighties." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Understanding population growth in the peri-urban region

This article advocates a new approach to understanding periurban population growth. A conceptual model is developed that identifies four distinct growth processes: suburbanization, counterurbanization, population retention, and centripetal migration. Each of these growth processes acts differently on particular population subgroups. The differences are reflected in variations in the spatial manifestation of periurban growth within Australia. Suburbanization process is differentiated from counterurbanization by employing three indicators of suburbanization. The first indicator includes the broad situation of the periurban destination and is defined as in-migration from the metropolitan area to adjacent, accessible periurban locations. The second indicator lies in the assessment of the commuting and social linkages with the metropolitan maintained by migrants. The third indicator is the nature of the migrants' residential destination site. Counterurbanization is largely seen to be a shift in population down the urban hierarchy to smaller centers and localities beyond the existing metropolitan boundaries. Furthermore, the article discusses the four indicators that distinguish counterurbanization from suburbanization. Another important process contributing to periurban growth is population retention. Two key indicators that lie in the measurement of increased period of residence and reduced rates of out-migration overtime characterize this process.     

Literacy differentials in tribal and non-tribal population of India, 1981

The author investigates literacy differentials between tribal and non-tribal populations in India, using 1981 census data. "Spatially, the index is high in tradition gripped and economically backward areas of Western Rajasthan, of central highlands and of Western Arunachal Pradesh. It is low in [the] Christian tribal belt of [the] northeast; the early exposed areas of [the] southern peninsula, parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, and numerically insignificant areas of northern Rajasthan and Western Himalayas."     

Political economy of population growth

Tracing the origin of political economy as a class-science, this paper focuses on the political economy of population growth. Exposing the limitations of Malthusian ideas and their invalidity even for the capitalist economies, it discusses the subsequent revival of the Malthusian model during the period of de-colonization and the misinterpretation of the relationship between population growth and development in the developing and developed countries. Taking India, China, and Japan as some case studies, the paper examines the relationship between birth rate levels and some correlates. It elaborates on the Indian experience, emphasizing the association of population growth with poverty and unemployment and lays bare some of the hidden causes of these phenomena. The authors examine some interstate variations in India and identify constraints and prospects of the existing population policy. The paper proposes outlines of a democratic population policy as an integral part of India's development strategy which should recognize human beings not simply as consumers but also as producers of material values. It pleads for 1) restructuring of property relations; 2) bringing down the mortality rates and raising of the literacy levels, especially among females; and 3) improving nutritional levels, as prerequisites for bringing down birth rates.     

Changes of population growth in Tibet Autonomous Region

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人口集聚对中国城市经济增长的影响分析

人口集聚是新经济地理学关注的焦点,由于连续年份城市建设用地数据难以获取等原因,目前仍无法明确人口集聚是否促进了中国城市经济增长。采用消除连续年份时空异质性的DMSP/OLS夜间灯光数据方法所提取的建设用地等数据,通过构建人口密度影响地均收入水平的理论模型,分析2005-2013年间人口集聚对中国35个大城市经济增长的影响。研究发现人口集聚对中国城市经济增长产生显著的正向影响,其影响程度沿东、中、西部依次递减;在解释机制上,人口集聚主要通过知识和人力资本促进中国城市经济的增长,而知识密集行业占比和高校师生比的空间分布及两者对城市收入的影响是沿东、中、西部依次递减的,是解释人口集聚促进城市经济增长存在空间差异的主要原因。     

中国城市土地扩张与人口增长协调性研究

基于城市建成区面积和城区人口数据,构建城市土地扩张与人口增长关系模型,对2000年和2010年中国657个城市的土地扩张与人口增长之间的协调性进行了评价。结果表明:①中国城市用地扩张和人口增长之间的协调性较弱,土地显著扩张是中国城市发展的主要类型,数量占城市总量的1/3;其次是人口显著增长类型,占城市数量的1/4,两极分化明显。②在空间分布上,土地显著扩张的城市主要集中在东部沿海、沿江、沿线等经济相对发达地区;人口显著增长的城市分布重心则相对西移,主要处于胡焕庸线以东的中西部地区。③从不同规模城市用地扩张与人口增长的协调性来看,特大城市、大城市发展以土地快速扩张为主,且土地显著扩张所占比例最大;中、小城市发展以人口快速增长为主,并以人口显著增长占优。④由城市规模变动来看,小城市规模晋升多以人口快速增长实现,大、中城市规模晋升则更多通过土地快速扩张推进,特别是以房地产、新城建设等带动的用地驱动型城市化来完成。